Super Bowl XLIX gave the local economy a $720 million boost, the largest ever for a Valley event, according to a study commissioned by the host committee.

The economic-impact study, released Tuesday at the Arizona Governor's Conference on Tourism in Paradise Valley, estimated visitor and media spending at $295 million from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1, when the NFL championship game was played in Glendale at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The overall economic impact of $720 million takes into account a multiplier factor, or ripple effect, as visitors' dollars circulated through the local economy from one company to the next and through employee wages.

Super Bowl XLIX's economic impact was not only the largest in Arizona history; it was also the largest of any Super Bowl for which publicly released figures are available, according to the study.

It was also the most-watched program in American television history, with an average of 114.4 million viewers.

"You undertake these kinds of efforts ... because of the desire to expose what's great about Arizona to the world," said David Rousseau, Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee chairman. "The fact that out-of-town residents (contributed) $720 million over that week is a validation."

The host committee raised $30 million to stage the Super Bowl. Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and Paradise Valley also contributed to the costs of staging the United States' highest profile sporting event.

"We hope to harvest additional returns on that investment over the coming months and years," said Rousseau, who is also president of Salt River Project.

The study, commissioned by the host committee and the Arizona Commerce Authority, was conducted by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

It attempts to measure spending by visitors, media and out-of-state organizations that stage events related to the Super Bowl and includes a ripple effect from the direct spending.

NEWSLETTERS

Get the AZ Memo newsletter delivered to your inbox

We're sorry, but something went wrong

Get the pulse of Arizona -- Local news, in-depth state coverage and what it all means for you

ASU researcher and marketing professor Michael Mokwa said the study team conducted about 2,500 surveys with visitors across the Valley during Super Bowl week to get its data on $295 million in visitor spending.

The team interviewed NFL officials and others to get an estimate of $155 million in organizational spending.

That includes out-of-state media production spending for events like ESPN's outdoor broadcasting stage in Scottsdale and the DirectTV concerts in Glendale.

Spending by visitors generated about $25 million in state sales tax revenue, Anthony Evans, an ASU economist, said.

An ASU study of the previous Super Bowl in Glendale in 2008 estimated visitor spending of $218 million and an overall economic impact of $500 million.

This year's study estimated 122,000 visitors were in town to experience the Super Bowl or related events. That included about 63,000 out-of-town fans who had game tickets, Mokwa said.

More than 5,000 visiting media members attended the 2014 Super Bowl and stayed for an average of 7.1 nights, according to the study. That is up from 4.1 nights for the 2008 Super Bowl.

The longer media visits were due to the Pro Bowl all-star game, which was played a week before the Super Bowl. Most of the Pro Bowl fans were locals, Mokwa said.

Some economists caution that economic-impact studies for major sporting events often overestimate the local windfall because they fail to account for the lost spending of tourists displaced by sports fans attending the event.

Mokwa discounted the displacement effect in Arizona, saying that convention groups or vacationers still come to the Valley in the week before or the week after the Super Bowl.

"In some other cities, it may be more important to look at that" displacement effect, he said.

The study did not evaluate how the spending was split among various Valley cities.

But it was clear that Super Bowl Central in downtown Phoenix attracted large crowds, Mokwa said.

"What went on downtown and the number of people who stayed downtown and events that went on downtown, I have not seen that in my 25 years here," he said.

Glendale also drew well on game day and the previous day, Mokwa said.

"They did well," he said. "Better than most of us perceived."

Rousseau said the next likely bid for an Arizona Super Bowl will be for 2022. That would mean another seven-year gap in between games, just as it was from 2008 to this year, he said.

The next three Super Bowls are in San Francisco, Houston and Minneapolis. The games for 2019 and 2020 will be awarded at NFL meetings in May 2016.

Super Bowl visitors and media spent an estimated $295 million over nine days leading up to the game on Feb. 1, according to an Arizona State University study commissioned by the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee and Arizona Commerce Authority. Here are some of the highlights of the study:

– 63,259 visitors with Super Bowl tickets spent a combined $180.6 million. They stayed an average of 3.92 nights and their average daily spending was $728.

– 58,516 visitors here to experience the Super Bowl, who did not have game tickets, spent a combined $100.6 million. They stayed an average of 4.06 nights and their average daily spending was $423.

– 5,033 out-of-state media employees spent a combined $14 million. They stayed an average of 7.1 nights and their average daily spending was $390.